It promised more spinning chairs and fewer live shows but the return of BBC1's The Voice on Saturday suffered a nagging sense of deja vu after it was beaten by an Ant and Dec show on ITV for the second year running.

The Voice had 6.24 million viewers, a 26.9% share of the audience, between 7pm and 8.30pm, down from 8.4 million (37.6%) for its first series launch.

It lost out to Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV which had 7.19 million viewers, a 30.9% share, between 7pm and 8.25pm.

Nothing like the Crystal Maze

Channel 4's The Labyrinth, a German/South African co-production of Kate Mosse's bestselling novel had 1.38 million viewers, a 7.3% share, for the first of its two parts between 9pm and 11.05pm.

It followed another new Channel 4 series, Walking Through History, a historical rambling series fronted by Tony Robinson, which began with 1.3 million viewers, a 5.7% share, between 8pm and 9pm.

But Sarah Beeny, once the property darling of Channel 4, could only manage 598,000 viewers, a 2.6% share, for Sarah Beeny's Selling Houses between 7pm and 8pm. The series is being shown a few days earlier on More 4.

A good life

BBC2's Richard Briers: A Tribute was its most watched programme of Saturday night with 2.09 million viewers, a 9.1% share, between 7pm and 8pm.

Grim up north

Peter Moffat's new BBC1 drama The Village, starring John Simm and Maxine Peake in a drama charting life in the Derbyshire countryside from 1914 onwards, launched on Sunday with an average of 6.4 million viewers and a 25.9% audience share in the 9pm hour.

The Village was up against ITV1's Foyle's War (5.4 million/22.4%) and the concluding instalment of Channel 4 two-parter Labyrinth (1.2m/5.5%).

Even grimmer up north

The concluding episode of BBC3 three-parter In the Flesh, a bleak but touching look at a northern town dealing with the aftermath of a zombie outbreak, averaged 526,000 viewers and a 28.% audience share on Sunday night from 10pm.

Sky Sports 1's live coverage of Liverpool's 2-1 Premier League win over Aston Villa was the most watched multichannel show on Sunday, averaging 966,000 and an 8.6% share from 1pm.

Also highly placed was ITV2's The Only Way Is Essex (10pm: 982,000/5.1%) and Sky 1's Hawaii Five-0 (9pm: 504,000/2.1%).

Stroke!

Sunday's BBC1 coverage of the 2013 Boat Race averaged 4.5 million viewers and a 31.1% share from 3.15pm. Live coverage of the race itself averaged 6.6 million and a 41% share over half an hour from 4.30pm.

All ratings are Barb overnight figures, including live, +1 (except for BBC channels) and same day timeshifted (recorded) viewing, but excluding on demand, or other – unless otherwise stated. Figures for BBC1, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 generally include ratings for their HD simulcast services, unless otherwise stated

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